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Strawberries from Mars!
From: djs127@aol.com (DJS127)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Strawberry plants
I planted 13 Strawberry plants I bought at Home Depo 2 weeks ago. Anythning I should know about them? I have never grown strawberries before. David Snyder
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From: vaudeth@aol.com (Vaudeth)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberry plants
Strawberries need at least one inch of water a week. Keep them weeded and remove most of the runners. Also remove the blossoms the first month so plants can get better established. If you leave all the runners take root you'll havea matted row which can be a real mess and hard to manage. There's lots of info out there on the net about strawberrries. Vaud
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From: "Jenn" <audacity@teleport.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberry plants
Strawberries are relatively easy. After their growing season every year, you want to split them...one way I heard of to do this is to plant your strawberry plot like a checkerboard, pretend that you can only put strawberries on the black spots. Strawberries naturally send out runners (stems that lie along the ground and generally only have a few leaves), you'll want to cut most of them off until the end of the growing season. Towards the end of your season (or when fruit start bearing ripe fruit in northern areas), allow the runners to take root in what would be your white squares of the checkerboard. At the beginning of the next season, you should have established strawberry plants in the white squares. You can then dig up the black squares and let the whole thing start all over. This is because strawberry plants evidently bear the most fruit their first year. My strawberries seem to tolerate water often or not very often, but whatever you do, make it regular...someone who only eats 1500 calories a day may be used to it, same with a person who eats 2500...but if you give a person 1500 one day and 2500 the next and keep rollercoastering like that, you'll drive them nuts. Same thing with plants, they need a steady amount, and they need it regularly (once a day, once a week, whatever)...
Jenn Reed audacity@teleport.com Free Recipes: http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/9559/
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From: "Susan K. Wehe" <swehe@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberry plants
My strawberries seem to thrive in a rich compost laden soil. Since I grow them in flower tower containers, (they hold 25-40 plants) I use a water soluble fertilizer to make sure that they receive all the nutrients that they need. I'm actually trying a new product called Watch Us Grow (I think) that claims to provide micro nutrients as well as the big three. If you grow in a regular garden setting be sure to use loads of compost to mulch your plants. It keeps the weeds down, keeps the soil cool and improves the soil.
susan
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From: Karen Gridley <kgridley@netins.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberry plants Reply-To: kgridley@netins.net
My question is: WHEN am I supposed to fertilize? They are blooming now. Do I fertilize now or wait until the produce season is over and fertilize for next year? TIA for any help
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From: Scudder <scudder@altavista.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberry plants
Thank you for that. I also should have been simpler in response: Nowadays we use TomatoesAlive on the strawbs and that seems to be the right thing for them. At least in our particular garden. And we learned to keep the moisture level on them constant, as with our tomato plants. We had been letting them get very dry before watering. They're never very big but they sure pack the flavor.
Gary Cooper wrote:
> Well, in strict botanical terms, a tomato is a berry, but a strawberry is
> an acheme (I think). Both are fruits: fruits are the seed-bearing vessels
> of most flowering plants.
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From: Alan.Holmes@brunel.ac.uk (Alan J Holmes)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberry plants
In article <Pine.OSF.3.95.980429103936.26104C-100000@dingo.cc.uq.edu.au>, Helen Kay <enhkay@mailbox.uq.edu.au> wrote:
>> On Tue, 28 Apr 1998, Scudder wrote:
>> > By many accounts that mulching/layering step is the very reason the berries
>> > are called strawberries! Straw (not hay) is the ultimate mulch for this
>> > very tomato-like crop.
>No comments on the tomato resemblance! But I've heard that pine needles
>make an excellent mulch for strawberries.
That's an intersting concept, I think I'll give that a try, but not on _all_ of them!(:-)
-- Alan G4CRW, Ex FAA, RNARS and others! Here I sit, giving the world the benefit of my words of wit and wisdom! What an exciting life I lead!(:-)
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From: Alan.Holmes@brunel.ac.uk (Alan J Holmes)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberry plants
In article <35466CBC.4F10@netins.net>, Karen Gridley <kgridley@netins.net> wrote:
>My question is: WHEN am I supposed to fertilize? They are blooming now.
>Do I fertilize now or wait until the produce season is over and
>fertilize for next year? TIA for any help
I've never bothered to make any effort to apply fertiliser to any of my strawberries, it's not something that I would think of doing, I usually get a good crop.
-- Alan G4CRW, Ex FAA, RNARS and others! Here I sit, giving the world the benefit of my words of wit and wisdom! What an exciting life I lead!(:-)
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From: Helen Kay <enhkay@mailbox.uq.edu.au>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberries from seed?
On Tue, 28 Apr 1998, Gary Cooper wrote:
> On impulse (for 25 cents), I bought some seeds called "Fraise des Bois"
> from Le Jardin du Gourmet. Now I'm not sure what to do with them.
> [...]
> Can any of you good folks give any advice on how to start these seeds,
> what to do after that, and what I should expect to grow from them?
>
I have a packet of wild strawberry seed that I haven't yet gotten around to starting; perhaps I should try... (strawberry race, anyone? :) I've never grown them from seed before, so I can't help you there.
"Fraise des Bois" should produce a fruit about 2cm long, with a musky sweet flavor; I can't remember whether the plants have runners or not. You could try _Jane Grigson's Fruit Book_ for a more detailled description. The wild strawberry plants that I have (red and yellow fruiting, bought as plants rather than seed) have no runners but otherwise they resemble "normal" (commercial? conventional? you choose!) strawberry plants with smaller leaves on longer, finer stems. The fruit is small, generally no longer than my thumbnail, quite pointed, and strongly perfumed when ripe.
good luck with them; they're worth growing.
Helen.
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From: ellen@deltanet.com (Ellen)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberries from seed?
I started some from seed, and got a low germination rate, but did get some plants. They produce very small but extremely tasty berries. I discovered that they are best at a stage that would be overripe in regular strawberries. For best flavor they should not be picked until they are somewhat soft/mushy. That is probably why you don't see the fruit commercially. Ellen
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From: Helen Kay <enhkay@mailbox.uq.edu.au>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberries from seed?
On Tue, 28 Apr 1998, Ellen wrote:
I'd second the leave-them-until-very-ripe advice, although with a caution: on my way out this morning I checked my plants (thinking, "there was one berry there a day or so ago that should be just right now") and I noticed that something had been eating the berries. I suspect one of the large number of lizards which live in my vegie garden. Not that I grudge them a strawberry now and then! But I imagine that dogs would probably be attracted by the scent as well...
I've seen wild strawberries for sale once, at a very small greengrocer in London (Chelsea, to be precise). Astronomical price, but _so_ pretty.
Helen.
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From: Chris French & Helen Johnson <cf@spennithorne.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberries from seed?
I rather foolishly let my husband plant our wild strawberry seeds. Because they were small, he scattered them instead of one per module-the great majority germinated and I had to prick out 9/10-still left with 80 plantlets which are going strong-will be donating to friends and family.I hate wasting baby plants so 'rescued' and repotted too many! No fruit yet, but early days as at 4-6 leaf stage. If my husband can have such good germination rate, anyone can-stick them in seed compost and see.
-- Chris French and Helen Johnson Leeds
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From: alf.christophersen@basalmed.uio.no (Alf Christophersen)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberries from seed?
Helen Kay <enhkay@mailbox.uq.edu.au> wrote:
>I've seen wild strawberries for sale once, at a very small greengrocer in
>London (Chelsea, to be precise). Astronomical price, but _so_ pretty.
Reminds me as a child back in 50'ies and 60'ies that Englishmen paid astronomical prices for norwegian wild strawberries. My mother was asked once to organize some picking for an English paper factory director. I don't think she did it. You may pick for a long period and all you manage to gather is maybe 100 g from a field covering hundreds of sq. meters. But the taste.... oh my.....
That's a dimension in difference from berries like Senga Sengana and others. (But the Ananas Strawberry my mother did grow in the 50'ies was also jsut heaven, but still another one. I have no idea where all those sorts grown at that time did go. Suddenly everyone only had Senga Sengana (which with some fun may be translated to 'the bedly bed' in Norwegian ( 'the bed' is 'senga', 'sengana' means just nothing in Norwegian like bedly I would guess means nothing to an englishman :-) But the ending 'ana' is used in other words as a suffix often meaning a heavenly situation :-)
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Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: **gords**@idirect.com Gord Schindler
Subject: Re: strawberries Reply-To: **gords**@idirect.com Gord Schindler
In <1998050219352600.PAA22140@ladder03.news.aol.com>, mlvan1@aol.com (MLVan1) writes:
>I have about 8 plants and i have many berries,but before they can rippen they
>seem to ground rot.Is there a solution to this?
Strawberries should be covered in the fall with short cut straw. This is then raked off into the middle of the rows in the spring. This does several things: 1. It protects the plants from being heaved by the frost. 2. It helps to discourage weeds from growing in the berries and in the middle of the rows. 3. The straw provides a base for the berries to rest on so that they don't rot. You could still put some straw on yours even now. Just sprinkle it all over and then use your hands -so you don't damage the existing fruit- to shake it down into the plants and pull it between the rows.
Regards, Gord Schindler Toronto, Ontario Canada
**REMOVE THE ASTERISKS AROUND MY NAME TO REPLY..SICK OF SPAM**
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Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: **gords**@idirect.com Gord Schindler
Subject: Re: Help from strawberryologists Reply-To: **gords**@idirect.com Gord Schindler
In <354CE2FD.CD599015@cyberenet.net>, Jack Allen <tippy@cyberenet.net> writes:
>Last year I had my soil tested and planted 4 rows of plants. Early this
>year i had the soil tested again. Did exactly as the county agent
>said. Now I have the most beautiful plants you ever saw. And they have
>lots of berries. However not one is bigger than a nickel. I mean I was
>hoping for quarter sized berries as rung of the mill with a few half
>dollar sized thrown in. Can any of you ologists help me out?
>
>--
>A caterpillar is just an upholstered worm.
>
>ICQ: 3239552
>
>Jack
How much rain have you had? Stressed strawberries produce small fruit and a short season. Perhaps this is your problem. Strawberries also must be mulched with (preferably) straw as this helps to keep the moisture in and produces nicer fruit.
Regards, Gord Schindler Toronto, Ontario Canada
**REMOVE THE ASTERISKS AROUND MY NAME TO REPLY..SICK OF SPAM**
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From: pollinator@aol.com (Pollinator)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Strawberries from Mars!
From: psychmom <psychmom@concentric.net>
<<I'm growing 2 everbearing strawberries in pots. Some of the berries are very mishapen - they look like little bunches of grapes instead of strawberries. But most of the berries are the right shape. Any clues as to what might be going on?
>>
Don mentioned thrips; I'll mention another possibility.
Look at these closely: Each strawberry is actually made up of many little fruits, called achenes. The flower that produced them is a composite flower, actually a cluster of many tiny flowers within one group of petals.
You must have pollen on each pistil, to fertilize the seed in each achene. The achene will not grow if the seed is not pollinated.
A normal strawberry has many achenes. If you only are getting a half dozen (your "bunch of grapes" picture makes me think this, then pollination is your problem.
It is hard to speak generally of strawberries, since there are many different varieties and they vary enormously. First, strawberries tend to be self fertile, though almost all benefit from cross pollination.
In some cultivars, the placement of the stamens and the pistils leads to a lot of automatic selfing, as the pollen will simply drop onto the pistil, gravity being sufficient as pollinator.
Others are shaped so that pollen must be carried from stamen to pistil by an outside agent. This is true, whether they are selfed or crossed. The outside agent is usually a bee, though flies, butterflies and other insects can also accomplish some of this.
If your pots are indoors, you have excluded bees. Even if outdoors, they may not make a large enough number of flowers to attract the attention of the bees.
Bees are creatures of habit, and tend to work flowers in groups.
Try some hand pollination and see if the plant responds. I'll bet it does, and then you will have a conclusive answer to your question.
Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
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